


Euphoria

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV), High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Gen, Gender Identity Crisis, Mild Language, seb is amber and tj's cousin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:46:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25867636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Kourtney does Seb's makeup for her youtube channel, and it triggers a small identity crisis
Relationships: Seb Matthew-Smith/Carlos Rodriguez, seb matthew-smith & kourtney
Comments: 11
Kudos: 45





	Euphoria

“Hey Seb! Kourtney’s calling you.”

Seb walked back into the living room just in time to see Amber answer his phone for him and say something he couldn’t quite make out. He walked behind the couch and looked over her shoulder at the screen. He waved at Kourtney. “Hi, Kourt.”

“Hi, Sebby.”

He took the phone from Amber and turned around, leaning against the back of the couch. “Sorry about my cousin. She doesn’t understand the concept of privacy.” He leaned back and fell over the back of the couch so he was laying on it upside down in between Amber and TJ. Amber watched him, but TJ barely looked up from his phone.  _ Probably texting Cyrus _ .

She laughed. “It’s alright. Sorry for calling you while you’re at your cousins’ house.”

He shrugged. “It’s fine. We were just watching a movie. What’s up?”

“Well, I just realized that I left all the stage makeup in the school, which is locked until classes start up again.” Seb frowned, not one hundred percent sure where she was going with this. “I could maybe get Miss Jenn to-”

Amber took his phone from him, so she could see Kourtney. “Wait, are you doing Seb’s makeup?”

“Yeah, I was gonna do the Sharpay look for my youtube channel. But I’m not sure what makeup I’m gonna use for it. I think I have some stuff that’s similar enough in my own makeup, but I definitely don’t have any foundation in his shade.”

“You can use mine,” Amber suggested. She looked at Seb before looking back at Kourtney. “I mean we’re probably close enough.”

Seb turned around so he was sitting up, nearly kicking TJ in the face as he did, and looked at Amber. “Really?”

“Yeah, of course.” He smiled at her, but then suddenly her eyes widened, and she smiled. “But actually, better idea: why don’t we just buy you some makeup of your own?”

“That’s a great idea,” Kourtney said. Seb leaned against Amber’s shoulder, so he could see the phone better. “I mean, I know you’ve been wanting to start wearing makeup more often. And it would probably help if you, you know, owned any.”

He looked between their two smiling faces as his own smile started to grow. Kourtney did have a point. “Yeah, ok.”

Amber picked up her own phone to check the time. “Cloud Ten is still open.”

“Wait. You wanna go right now?”

“What’s Cloud Ten?” Kourtney asked.

“It’s this salon my friend’s mom owns. Come on.” She pulled Seb up off the couch.

“Ok ok.” He looked back at his phone. “I guess we’re going now. Bye Kourt!”

“Bye Sebby! See you tomorrow!” She blew him a kiss, and he blew one back before hanging up.

Amber started dragging Seb toward the door.

“So, are we not gonna finish the movie then?” TJ asked, looking up from his own phone.

Amber waved her hand. “We can finish it later. This is more important. Do you want to come?”

“Not particularly.”

“Can you make us supper then?” He gave her a look, but she just gave him a look back and said, “Oh come on, you know I was gonna make you cook for us anyway.”

TJ sighed but got up. “Fine.” He started walking toward the kitchen. “But only because if you try to cook for us, we might actually die.”

Amber just rolled her eyes, and then she and Seb put on their coats and hats to get ready to go. Amber grabbed Seb’s keys, and the two of them headed out the door.

Amber pulled the pickup into a parking spot in front of a building with a sign on it that said ‘Cloud Ten.’ They got out, and she tossed him his keys. He pushed open the door and held it for her. “M’lady,” he joked.

She nodded at him. “M’dude.” They both smiled and walked in. Seb looked around. It was pretty and smelled a bit like the dressing room in the theatre. Amber waved at the woman standing behind the counter in the back. “Hey, Bex.”

The woman, Bex, smiled at her. “Hey, Amber.” She came around the counter and walked over to them. Her hair was up, so he noticed that she had an undercut and, for some reason, instantly felt more comfortable around her. “What are you doing here?” She looked at Seb. “And who’s your friend?”

“This is my cousin Seb. We’re here to get him some makeup.”

Bex raised her eyebrow at him, not judgmental at all, just curious. “Are you looking for anything in particular?”

He shrugged and looked at Amber, hoping she’d answer for him. He honestly wasn’t completely sure what exactly they were looking for. He knew that Kourtney had mentioned needing foundation, but he didn’t know what else Amber had in mind. Luckily, Amber did answer for him. “Just the basics, you know. He’s kind of new at this.”

Bex nodded. “Well, you know where everything is. Let me know if you need help with anything.” She looked at Amber. “And remember, only the ones that say ‘tester’ on them are testers.”

“I know,” Amber reassured her, in a voice that told Seb that they’d had that conversation many times, before dragging Seb over to the side of the store where there was a wall of makeup. It was just a bit overwhelming. She took off her coat and set it on the counter in the middle of the room, and he followed suit before sitting on one of the stools in front of it. She looked at the Wall of Makeup and grabbed a few things. She set a few products on the counter in front of him, all labeled ‘tester.’

She held one of them up to him. “Ok, this is the foundation I use.”

He nodded, not sure what he wanted her to do with it. Then, she grabbed his arm and pushed up the sleeve of his flannel. She opened the foundation and put a little bit on his arm and rubbed it in. He noticed that it didn’t quite match his skin tone, but it was pretty close. She looked at it for a second and frowned. He watched her set it down on the counter, pick up a different one, and repeat the process. This time, it matched pretty much perfectly. She smiled and nodded before putting the testers back and grabbing one they could buy. She set it on the counter, slightly apart from the other products that were there. “Here. This one should work.”

He nodded. “Cool.”

She went though each of the other products (and went back a few times for more), testing each product on him before deciding to buy it. It felt a little weird, but it was also kind of fun? She even tried to teach him how to put mascara on himself. (Bex ended up coming over to help with that. It was harder than it looked.) When they got to the eyeshadow, he immediately wanted pretty much all of them, but he managed to settle for just one palette. It was colorful and sparkly and had a pink that looked pretty close to the one he’d worn for the Sharpay costume, and Amber and Bex both approved of it.

When they were done, Bex helped them remove all the makeup they had tested on themselves and each other before checking them out. When he saw the price, he started to panic a little bit, but then Bex gave him a ‘friends and family’ discount, and Amber offered to pay for half of it. (Actually, she’d offered to pay for all of it, but there was no way he was going to let her do that, so they compromised.) Then, Bex threw in a cute little makeup bag for free, and Seb decided right then that he would die for her. She gave them both a hug goodbye before they left.

Seb rang Kourtney’s doorbell, holding two coffee cups and the bag of makeup he’d gotten yesterday. Well, technically, one of the cups was full of hot chocolate. Well, mostly full. After a couple seconds, Kourtney opened the door and let him in. She gave him a hug and then closed the door behind them. He handed her the cup of coffee.

She smiled at him in surprise and took a drink. “Sebby, have I told you recently that I love you?”

He smiled at her. “Pretty much everyday, yeah.”

“Well, I do. How’d you know what kind of coffee I like?”

He shrugged. “I asked Nini.” She huffed out a short laugh and shook her head before leading him upstairs to her bedroom.

It was kind of weird seeing a place he’d seen on a screen so many times in real life for the first time. It felt almost like the first time he’d seen the theatre at East High. Ok, maybe not quite that exciting. But still. He had seen every one of Kourtney’s videos, many of them multiple times. And now he was going to be  _ in _ one. Maybe she wasn’t exactly a huge celebrity or anything, but her online following wasn’t small. And her videos were amazing. Sometimes, he couldn’t believe they were actually friends.

She set her coffee down on her desk and sat down in one of the chairs in front of it, gesturing for him to sit in the other one. He took off his coat and threw it on the bed before he sat down and set his hot chocolate and makeup on the desk in front of him. She picked up the makeup bag. “This is cute.” He nodded as she opened it and started going through it. She took it all out and nodded approvingly. “Ok, are you ready to start?”

He nodded. “I think so.”

But some of his nervousness must have shown on his face because she turned to him with a soft look and held his hand. “Hey, it’s ok. I’ve done your makeup before.”

“There wasn’t a camera on us before.”

“Forget about the camera. It’s just me doing your makeup and talking to you. Just like for the play. And I can always edit anything out later if you want, ok?” He nodded. “Ok. Now take a deep breath.” He did. “Are you ready?” He nodded and smiled at her. “Ok.” She reached over to turn on the camera and start her intro. He kept looking between their reflection in the mirror and the little screen on the camera, even though he knew he probably shouldn’t look at either one. He mostly just smiled and nodded along as she introduced the video and him. But then she said, “So now watch how I transform everyone’s favorite little farm boy into everyone’s favorite mean girl,” and he had to interrupt her.

“Wait. Farm boy? I live on a ranch.”

She looked at him. “What’s the difference?”

He put on a fake offended face and started to get up, joking, “I’m sorry my mom says I have to leave right now immediately.”

She pulled him back down to his seat. “Ok. I’m sorry. But seriously, what  _ is _ the difference?”

“Well, my family raises cattle and sheep, you know, livestock. On farms, they mostly grow crops, you know like wheat and corn and soybeans.” He was still sometimes a little bit amazed by how little the city folk knew about where their food came from.

“Right…” She nodded, but still didn’t seem to quite get it. “So what can I call you then? Ranch boy?”

He laughed. “I think the word you’re looking for is rancher. But cowboy works too I guess.”

“Are you actually a cowboy?”

He shrugged. “Depends on how you define it, but I do raise cows, and I’m pretty sure I’m a boy, so technically?”

She smiled at him. “So do you, like, wear cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and everything?”

“I do own those things, yes,” he answered, trying not to laugh. “But I thought we were here to talk about makeup.” he pointed out.

“Yeah, sorry.” She looked at the camera. “So now I’m gonna show you all how I transform our favorite  _ cowboy _ here into the one and only Sharpay Evans.” She picked up the foundation he and Amber had bought the day before and started opening it as she explained what brand and shade it was to the camera. As she started putting it on his face, she asked him where he’d gotten it.

“Oh um, my cousin Amber took me to Cloud Ten yesterday. It’s this little like salon in Shadyside that her friend’s mom owns. I don’t exactly have anything to compare it to, but it seems pretty nice. Bex, the owner, is like the nicest person ever. Like, I just met her yesterday, but I’m pretty sure would die for her.”

As Kourtney continued to do his makeup, the two of them kept talking. He was kind of amazed at how easily the conversation flowed, even with her interrupting them every once in a while to explain what product she was using or what she was doing or to tell him where to move his head or to close his eyes or to stop trying to look at himself in the mirror. They mostly talked about the musical. They talked about how much fun it had been and how much of a disaster opening night had ended up being. He teased her about having to go on as Taylor, and they joked about Carlos going on as Chad. He talked about how nervous he’d been right before  _ Bop to the Top _ and how Carlos had helped him feel better. He talked about how his family had made posters, which was totally not proper theatre etiquette, but he loved it anyway.

And of course they talked about how much they both loved the movies and how Sharpay was obviously the best character. He told her about how when he was a kid, one day Amber had shown up at the ranch with this book she’d gotten for TJ that had sheet music for all of the songs from the first two movies on piano. She’d complained to him about how TJ had gotten tired of playing  _ Fabulous _ for her over and over again and insisted that Seb play it for her instead. He’d learned the song within minutes. Eventually, he learned every song in that book (as well as all the songs from the third movie), but Sharpay’s were always his favorite to play, especially  _ Fabulous _ . The only problem was that he and Amber kept fighting over who got to sing Sharpay’s part. She insisted that he had to be Ryan because he was a boy, which didn’t seem very fair to Seb. Sure, he liked Ryan, but Sharpay was  _ iconic _ . And he didn’t think it seemed fair that Amber got to be her just because she was a year older and a girl. Usually, they ended up just both singing both parts, but occasionally they managed to drag TJ in to sing Ryan’s part, and they both sang Sharpay’s.

Kourtney laughed as she put the finishing touches on Seb’s makeup. “Ok, but I would kill for a video of you three singing  _ Fabulous _ as kids.”

Seb chuckled. “I think you would actually have to. There’s no way TJ is ever letting those videos see the light of day.”

She just smiled as she put her makeup brush down. “Ok, I’m done.”

He looked over at the mirror. “Woah.”

“I know. I think I did even better this time than when I did it for the play.”

He couldn’t stop staring at his reflection. He grinned. “I love it.”

“Me too.” She leaned over to give him a hug. “So, how does it feel?”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “You know, being Sharpay, wearing makeup, how do you feel?”

Maybe it wasn’t supposed to be, but that was kind of a loaded question. He took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I know the show is over and everything, but part of me still can’t believe it happened. Or that Miss Jenn really let me play Sharpay.” Kourtney gave him a sad smile. “Is it weird that I feel more like myself when I’m playing someone else than like any other time?”

“That’s not weird at all, Sebby.”

He shrugged. “It’s kind of freeing, you know. Getting to play a mean girl. And also just, getting to play a girl.” She nodded, and he looked over at his reflection again. “And I don’t know, wearing makeup right now, like it’s technically still the Sharpay makeup, but it’s not for a play. It’s just me. And I don’t know. I’m not great with words.” He looked back at Kourtney. “I know I already said this, but I just don’t know how else to describe it: you made me look the way I feel.” He was not expecting to get this emotional. He reached over and squeezed her hand. “So just, thank you, I guess.” She smiled at him, and he looked away again. “I don’t know. It’s not like I don’t like how I normally look, but I never expected wearing makeup to feel so amazing? It’s like… I don’t know…”

“Euphoria?” Kourtney suggested.

He looked at her and smiled. He didn’t quite know where that word came from, but somehow, he knew that it fit perfectly. “Yeah.” She gave him a kind of knowing smile, but he wasn’t sure what it was that she knew.

She looked back at the camera to start doing her outro. After they finished filming, she turned off the camera. They both stood up and hugged. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She took a few pictures of him in his makeup and a few selfies of the two of them together. Then, she started packing up his makeup for him as he put on his coat. “Do you want me to take your makeup off now, or do you wanna wait until you get home?”

He looked in the mirror again. “I think I want to keep it on for a bit.”

She nodded and handed him his makeup. “This was fun. We should do it again sometime.”

He nodded and smiled. “Yeah.”

“I’ll let you know when I’m done editing it.” He nodded. She walked him to the door and hugged him goodbye. “I’ll see you around, Sebby.”

“Bye, Kourt.” He waved to her before he got into his pickup. He turned it on and sat there for a second. Today had been fun, but he was exhausted. He sighed before he put on his seatbelt and pulled out of her driveway.

Without really thinking about it, he ended up in front of Carlos’s house. He put his pickup in park and pulled out his phone to text him.

Seb: Are you home?

Carlos: yeah, why?

Seb: Come outside.

Less than a minute later, the front door opened, and Carlos walked out. He got in the passenger side of the pickup. “What’s up?”

Seb looked at him and smiled. “Hi.”

Carlos smiled at him. “You look great. You did that video with Kourtney today, right?” Seb nodded. “How was it?”

“It was fun.”

“Can I kiss you? I don’t want to mess up your makeup.”

Seb smiled and shrugged. “We already filmed the video. I think it’s ok if it gets a little messed up.” They leaned across the front seat and kissed.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Carlos raised his eyebrow at him. “Are you sure?”

Seb leaned back. “I’m hungry. Do you want to get something to eat?”

“Sure.” Carlos put on his seatbelt, and Seb started driving away.

“Is McDonald’s ok?” Seb asked.

“How romantic,” Carlos joked. Seb glanced at him, not sure how serious he was. “Yeah, McDonald’s is fine,” Carlos reassured him.

As they pulled into the parking lot, Seb started to feel a little weird? Nervous maybe? “Is it ok if we go through the drive through?”

Carlos gave him a concerned look but nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

After they got their food, they sat in the parking lot and ate. Carlos reached over and held Seb’s hand. “Seriously, are you ok? Did something happen?”

Seb sighed. “I don’t know.” He laughed humorlessly. “I don’t get it. I just filmed a video that thousands of people are gonna see, but I can’t walk into a McDonald’s. Maybe I should have just taken the makeup off at Kourtney’s house.”

Carlos squeezed his hand. “You could take it off right now if you want?”

Seb shook his head. “No, I don’t want to. I think. I like it. I’m just a coward.”

Seb could feel Carlos staring at him intensely and turned to meet his gaze. “You are not a coward, Seb. You’re one of the bravest people I know. And I get it. It’s scary. This is Utah. They aren’t exactly known for being nice to people like us.”

Seb looked down. “Yeah.” He knew that Carlos had been through worse than he had. He couldn’t believe  _ Carlos _ was calling  _ him _ brave. He looked back up at him. “You wear makeup sometimes, right?”

Carlos shrugged. “It’s been known to happen.”

“Do you ever feel like this?”

“All the time.”

“Does it get easier?”

“Yes, of course it does. And, in my experience, it’s worth it.” He squeezed Seb’s hand again. “You deserve to be able to express yourself however you want, Seb. Fuck what other people think.” Seb smiled at him, not even bothering to say anything about Carlos swearing because, this time, it was warranted. Carlos’s face softened. “Did I ever tell you about the first time I wore makeup to school?” Seb shook his head. “Well, it was just nail polish, and it was kind of an accident. I was in middle school. My sisters and I had been doing each other’s nails the night before, and I was gonna take it off before school, but I slept in and didn’t have time. I was terrified basically all day. And yeah, there were some assholes who said some things, but honestly, I was kind of used to them by that point, so I tried not to let it get to me. It did, a little bit. But then, Nini came up to me and complimented my nails. I doubt she even remembers it because, you know, she’s nice to everybody, but no one other than my sisters had ever really gone out of their way to say something nice to me before. I decided to leave it on after that.” He smiled. “So, you know, it’s not all bad.”

Seb nodded and smiled. “Yeah.” He wasn’t really sure what else to say, so he just kept eating. He did feel better though. The two of them ate in a comfortable silence for a while. “Thank you,” Seb said, after they’d finished eating.

“For what?”

Seb shrugged. “Being here.”

Carlos smiled at him. “I love you.”

Seb froze for a second. They had never actually said that to each other before. Carlos looked down and started to say something, but Seb put his hand on his cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. They leaned their foreheads together. “I love you, too.”

Carlos smiled, but then wrinkled his nose. “Your hand is greasy.”

Seb leaned back a bit and laughed. “Well, too bad. You messed up my lipstick.” Carlos just laughed and leaned forward to mess it up some more.

Work on the ranch was a bit slower in the winter, and his sister was home from college to take over some of it, so there wasn’t as much for Seb to do. Kourtney texted him a few times over the course of the next few days to ask him if he wanted certain things to be cut out of the video and if he could send her pictures to put in it. He managed to get a picture of him and TJ and Amber as kids, but TJ wouldn’t let him send her a video, no matter how much he begged. He even tried getting Cyrus to ask TJ, but when that didn’t work, he gave up.

Several days later, he walked inside after finishing up his chores and saw that he had about a dozen notifications on his phone. Only about half of them would load, but he got the gist: Kourtney had posted the video.

He found his mom in the kitchen. “Hey, is it alright if I go into town for a bit?”

She looked up at him. “What for?”

“Because the internet here sucks.”

“What do you need the internet for?”

“To watch a video.”

“You want to drive all the way into town to watch a video?”

“Yes? Please?”

“Fine, but take the girls with you. They’ve been on my nerves all morning.” She sighed, clearly tired. “God, why does winter break have to be so long?”

“It’s only been a week,” he pointed out. “It’s not even Christmas yet.”

She chuckled and waved for him to leave. “Just go.”

He nodded and left the room. It took way too long to find his little sisters and get them bundled up and into the backseat of his pickup. His original plan was to go to Carlos’s house or something, but with these two, that didn’t seem like a good idea, so he drove to Shadyside.

He parked in front of Parker Street Gym, where he knew TJ was working. Cassie and Maddie immediately ran up to him shouting “Teej!” and attacked him. He fell overdramatically onto the ground, and Seb laughed. When TJ managed to get them off of him and to go play with the other kids, he walked up to Seb.

“What are you guys doing here?”

Seb shrugged. “Needed to get out of the house. My mom made me bring them with me, so I decided to make that your problem.”

TJ laughed. “Not a problem. It’s my job.” He looked over at the kids. “Besides, you know I love them.”

Seb smirked at him. “Yeah, well good luck with that. I may or may not have given them some candy on the way here to shut them up.”

TJ shook his head, crossing his arms. “Everybody thinks you’re such a good actor because you played Sharpay, but I know the truth. You weren’t acting. You  _ are _ Sharpay.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”

TJ rolled his eyes. “Get out of my gym, Sebastian.”

“Ok, Thelonious,” He said just loud enough that only TJ could hear him. Then, he turned around and practically ran out the door before TJ could react.

A few minutes later, Seb walked into the Spoon and sat down at a booth by the window. He pulled out his phone and started checking his notifications. There were several texts from Kourtney and Carlos, which was expected, but also a few from his other friends. Before he responded to any of them, he texted TJ a link to that ‘Sharpay did nothing wrong’ video, even though he knew for a fact he’d already seen it. He was texting Carlos when Amber walked over and put a mug of hot chocolate on the table in front of him.

“Did you come here to see me?” She asked with a smile on her face.

He shook his head. “Nah, I’m just here for your wifi.”

She chuckled and sat in the booth across from him. “I saw that Kourtney posted the video. Have you watched it yet?”

He shook his head. “I was just about to. Have you?”

She shook her head. “I was gonna watch it on my break. Which I’ve just decided is right now.” She moved over to the other side and pushed him until he moved to make room so she could sit next to him. She gestured at his phone expectantly.

He rolled his eyes but clicked on the notification he had from YouTube to go to the video, and together they sat there and watched it. It was a bit weird seeing himself on a screen, not performing but just as himself. He watched Amber more than he watched the video. It made him happy that she seemed to like it. She was smiling the whole time; she snorted at the little cowboy hat Kourtney had edited onto his head in the beginning; she called Kourtney cute no less than eleven times (yes, he counted); and she was a little teary-eyed by the end (not that she’d ever admit that). Wow, he’d almost forgotten how emotional he’d gotten toward the end there.

When it ended, he set the phone down on the table. Amber put her arm around him and gave him an awkward side hug. “Sebby! I love you so much. That was so good.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks. I love you, too”

She put her hand on his should and looked at him. “I can’t believe you’re famous now.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not famous.”

She picked up his phone and looked at the viewer count. “Ok, you’re mildly famous among a very specific group of people.”

He looked at it.  _ Woah _ . Did Kourtney’s videos usually get that many views in the first few hours? Probably… Right?

She squeezed his shoulder and stood up. “I should get back to work. Do you want anything to eat?”

“Uh sure.”

Still looking at his phone, he barely noticed her roll her eyes. “Very specific, thanks.” But she walked away anyway, knowing better than he did what he wanted to eat.

He watched the viewer count rise. He liked the video and noticed that there were quite a few dislikes. That was normal though, right? All videos have to have  _ some _ dislikes. It didn’t mean anything. Right? Besides, there were way more likes than there were dislikes. He was almost scared to look at the comments. He knew that YouTube comments in general were Not Great, but Kourtney’s videos usually didn’t have that many negative comments. He couldn’t stop himself from scrolling down.

He was instantly overwhelmed with the amount of positivity. There were a few not-so-nice comments, but he did his best not to fixate on those. After all, they were mostly drowned out by the hundreds of compliments. There were also a few comments arguing about which  _ High School Musical _ movie was the best or whether or not Sharpay was really the villain. He couldn’t help but laugh at those. He was tempted to join in on the discourse but thought better of it. He kept scrolling, reading every compliment over and over again until he felt like crying.

And then there was one comment that he wasn’t sure how to feel about. It wasn’t bad, but he just didn’t  _ get _ it. ‘lmao getting gender euphoria from wearing makeup for the first time is a big trans mood.’ There were two replies that just said ‘same.’  _ Huh _ . Was that a ‘big trans mood?’ He wasn’t trans. (At least, he didn’t think he was.) But he supposed there was nothing wrong with trans people relating to something he had said. Although, technically, ‘euphoria’ had been Kourtney’s word, not his. But he had agreed that it felt right. Was that a trans thing? Kourtney was genderqueer, so maybe? He decided to google the phrase ‘gender euphoria.’

He was so distracted by reading what came up on his phone, he didn’t notice Amber come up to him again until she set a plate in front of him. He was startled and barely managed to lock his phone before dropping it on the table. She raised her eyebrow at him. “You ok, dude?”

He nodded. “Yeah, of course.” He looked down at the sandwich in front of him and back up at her. “Uh thanks.”

She nodded. “Yeah, are you sure? You didn’t go down a rabbit hole of looking at the comments on the video or something like that, did you?”

He shook his head. “No. Well, kind of. I did look at the comments, but they were mostly nice, so it’s fine. I was just uh,” he glanced at his phone, “texting Carlos.”

She nodded again, clearly not believing him. “Right. Ok then.” She walked away, and he sighed.

He didn’t know why he didn’t want to tell her. It wasn’t a big deal, right? But he felt weird about it for some reason. As he started eating his food, he picked his phone back up and kept reading. He ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about trans and nonbinary stuff. The more he read, the more he related to what he was reading. And he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Ok, so maybe he knew that it meant that he probably wasn’t cis, but he didn’t want to admit that to himself until he knew for sure.

But then, the thought, ‘ _ Carlos is gay. If you’re not a guy, he won’t want to date you anymore _ ,’ crossed his mind. And he didn’t know where that thought came from, but once it showed up, he couldn’t get it to go away. He put his phone down and closed his eyes. He tried to breathe and reassure himself that Carlos loved him and maybe this whole thing was dumb anyway.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and started, opening his eyes to see Amber standing there. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you again.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine.”

She frowned at him and sat down next to him again, taking his hand in hers. “Seriously, Seb, are you ok? And don’t lie to me this time.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He just leaned forward and put his head on her shoulder. Everything was just suddenly too much for him. His eyes stung, and his breathing was shaky, and tears started to fall.

She put her arms around him and rubbed his back. “Oh Sebby. You’re ok. What happened? Did someone leave a mean comment on the video?” He shook his head. “Did something happen with Carlos?” He shook his head again, but he was pretty sure she could tell she was close. “Oh, honey.” They just sat like that until he calmed down. He had no idea how much time passed before he eventually lifted his head up. She gave him a sad smile and handed him a napkin to blow his nose. “What happened?”

He looked around. “It’s… hard to explain.”

She nodded. “I’m gonna go clock out, ok? I’ll be right back.” He nodded as she got up, took his plate and cup, and walked away. He resisted the urge to check his phone.

When she came back, she had changed out of her uniform and put on her coat and hat. She held out her hand to him and helped him up. He put on his coat, and she started leading him to the toward the door. “Wait, I still have to pay.”

She waved his concerns away. “Don’t worry. I took care of it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, come on.” He nodded and followed her out the door.

It was cold, but at least he could breathe out here, and it didn’t smell like grease. They walked for a bit in silence. “Wait, what time is it?” He asked her.

She shrugged. “About 2:30.”

“Did you leave work early for me?”

“Yeah. I told them it was a family emergency.”

“Why?”

She looked at him like it was obvious. “Because it is.”

He looked away from her. “Where are we going?”

She shrugged. “We’re just walking.”

“Oh.”

“So what happened?”

He shrugged. “It feels stupid now.”

“It’s not stupid.”

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“I don’t need to. It’s not stupid.”

He sighed. “I guess it is kind of because of a comment someone left on the video.” She raised her eyebrow at him. “It’s not bad. It’s just… I guess it maybe kind of triggered a small identity crisis?”

She seemed confused. “What kind of identity crisis?”

“Like a gender identity crisis?”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

She reached out and held his hand. “You know I love you, right?”

He smiled. “Yeah, I know. I love you, too.”

After a few seconds of silence, she asked, “So what does this have to do with Carlos?”

“Who said it had anything to do with Carlos?” She just gave him a Look, and he sighed and looked down. “What if he doesn’t want to date me anymore?” he asked in a small voice.

She squeezed his hand. “Seb, you’re an idiot.”

He looked at her. “What?”

“You know I’m a lesbian, right?”

“Yeah…” he answered, not sure where she was going with this.

“How many times, just this week, have you teased me about being gay for Kourtney?”

“What does- oh.”

“Yeah.”

“But-”

“Seb, if you’re about to try to invalidate her gender or my sexuality, I’m going to have to disown you.”

“But what if Carlos is different?”

She stopped and put her hands on his arms. “Seb. Carlos loves you. Just talk to him.”

He nodded. “Ok.” They started walking again. “But I’m still not sure exactly what I am. I’m just pretty sure I’m probably not cis.”

“It’s ok to not know.”

“I know.”

She stopped again and looked him in the eyes. “Seb. It’s ok to not know.”

He nodded, actually believing her this time. “Yeah, I know.”

She smiled and pulled him into a hug, which he gratefully returned. They turned and started walking back in the direction of the gym.

“So I heard you pawned your sisters off onto your cousin?” Seb’s mom asked him when he walked in the house.

Seb looked across the room into the living room where Cassie and Maddie were already watching tv after running passed him into the house. Those little snitches. He just shrugged. “You pawned them off onto your son.” The word ‘son’ left a bad taste in his mouth, but he just pushed that thought away for now.

She just smiled and shook her head before asking him to help her with dinner.

Seb was sitting on a hay bale in the barn watching the animals. He had finished his chores, but he didn’t want to go back into the house quite yet. He felt more than saw his older sister Annie climb up and sit down next to him.

“What’s up?”

He shrugged. “You know, just sittin.”

She nodded. “So I heard you’re famous now.”

He turned to give her a confused look. “I’m not famous.”

“I don’t know. When I watched the video it had about twenty thousand views. That seems like a lot to me.”

He looked away, trying to pretend like he wasn’t internally freaking out because yeah, that seemed like a lot to him, too. And it had only been like two days. “You watched that?”

She shrugged. “One of my friends sent it to me. Makeup videos aren’t usually my thing, but it was good.” She turned to him with a smile. “You two are cute together. As friends, I mean. You’re entertaining to watch.”

He smiled. “Thanks.”

“You know, I don’t think I ever realized how badly you wanted to be Sharpay back when we kids.” She nudged his arm. “But I guess you won in the end, huh.”

He chuckled and looked down. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“Can I ask you something?”

He shrugged, having no clue what she was going to ask. “Sure.”

“What did you mean? When you said that Kourtney made you look the way you feel?”

“Oh.” He hadn’t been expecting that, though maybe he should have been. He didn’t know how to respond.

“Sorry. I guess I just don’t really get the appeal of makeup. Like it looked cool, the way she did it on you, for the show and the video. But I guess I’ve just never really thought of makeup as a way to feel  _ more _ like yourself.”

He nodded and took a second to think of how to word his response. “I think I’ve kind of always known I was different, you know? And when I figured out that I was gay, I thought, ‘oh, so that’s why.’ But now I think maybe it’s more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The first time Kourtney did my makeup was when we took the picture for the cover of the programs. I walked on stage in the pink eyeshadow and sparkly heels, and I looked around at everyone, and Carlos asked me how I felt. And all I could say was ‘I’m home.’ When I looked in the mirror that day, it was like I saw myself for the first time. Like, this is who I am.” He looked at her and saw that she still seemed confused. “It’s not that I don’t like the way I look normally, but there’s just something about that makeup and those clothes that just, I don’t know, it’s just so freeing. Like, I walked out on that stage and finally knew who I am.”

“Which is what exactly?”

“I don’t really know how to put it into words. It’s just a feeling, you know. I don’t think I even fully understood it myself until I saw a comment someone left on the video, and things started to click into place.”

“What do you mean?”

He looked down and bit his lip. “Annie, I don’t think I’m a guy.”

“Oh.”

“But I don’t think I’m a girl either.”

“Oh. Ok.” He smiled, relieved that she wasn’t making a big deal out of it. He leaned his head on her shoulder, and she put her arm around him. “I love you, Sebby.”

“I love you, too.” They sat like that for a bit before he spoke again. “You know, I love it here, but sometimes it can be a bit much. Like it’s hard to breathe.”

“That might be the smell of cow shit.”

He snorted and lifted his head off her shoulder. “You mean the smell of money,” he said, which was what their dad always said.

She laughed. “Yeah.” She turned to look at him. “I know what you mean though. I used to feel like that all the time.”

“Used to?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I haven’t told mom and dad yet, but I’m thinking of changing my major.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She looked away. “The last couple years, all I wanted was to get as far away from this ranch as possible, but then when I did…”

“Aw, you miss us.”

“Shut up.” She elbowed him. “Yeah, of course I miss you guys. And the animals. And the ranch itself.” She turned to him. “You know, I almost missed class on the first day of hunting season because I’m so used to not going to school that day.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded. “Yep. And then I got weirdly emotional when you sent me that picture and told me that Ollie shot his first deer. Like, I can’t believe I missed that. And when dad sent me the jerky you guys made, none of my friends would eat it because-”

“That’s Bambi’s mom,” the two of them said together before bursting out laughing.

“Yeah, Nini said the same thing.”

She shook her head. “Fuckin city slickers.” She looked away. “I can’t believe I’m turning into dad. But seriously, I miss this place. Even the smell of cow shit.” He snorted, and she looked back at him. “Besides, there’s no way I’m letting you take over when mom and dad retire.”

He put a hand on his chest, pretending to be offended. “What? You don’t think I’d be good at it?”

“I think you’d be great at it. But I know you’d be miserable.” He gave her a confused look. “Seb, I saw you on that stage. You’re right. That’s where you belong. You’re not a cowboy. You’re an actor. Or an actress?”

He had to laugh at her attempt to not misgender him because honestly, he didn’t even know which word he preferred at this point, but then he shook his head. “Why can’t I be both?”

She smiled at him. “If anyone could find a way to do both, it’s you. But seriously, I want you to know that you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to. Just don’t forget about us little guys when you’re out there killing it on Broadway.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever make it to  _ Broadway _ .”

“Come on, Seb. Where’s that Sharpay confidence I know you have? Of course you’re going to make it to Broadway, and I expect front row seats on opening night.”

He laughed. “Yeah, ok, maybe.”

“And hey, what do they call it when you get like all the big acting and music awards?”

“An EGOT?”

“Yeah, you’re totally gonna get an EGOT.”

He shook his head, but he was smiling. “Annie, only like fifteen people have ever gotten an EGOT before.”

“And you’re going to be number sixteen.”

He shook his head again. “Let’s shoot for seventeen. If I somehow manage to get an EGOT before Lin-Manuel Miranda, I will personally fight the entire Academy.”

She just laughed, and then they lapsed into silence again. After a minute, she asked, “Hey can I still call you my brother?”

He thought for a second. “I don’t know. This is kind of new to me. I’m still figuring out what words I’m comfortable with. But I think it’s fine for now.”

She nodded. “Ok.”

“Oh and, um, you won’t tell anyone, right? Because the only other person who knows is Amber.”

“Of course not. This is your thing. You get to decide who knows.”

He nodded and smiled. “Thanks.”

“But, can I ask, you haven’t told Carlos?”

He shook his head and looked down. “Not yet.”

“How come?”

He shrugged and pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging his legs. “I’m scared?”

“Why? I know I only met him the one time, but from what you’ve said, he doesn’t seem like he would care?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. I know it’s silly. Amber already called me dumb.”

“You’re not dumb.” He turned his head to look at her. “Ok, maybe you’re a little bit dumb.”

“Thanks…”

“But it’s ok to be scared.” She scooted closer to him and put her arm around him again. “You are completely valid. But, you know, you are gonna have to tell him eventually. Because if you don’t, he’ll figure out that there’s _ something _ you’re not telling him and jump to conclusions about what it is, and, you know, it’s probably better to avoid that.”

“You’re probably right.” He sighed. “When did you get so smart?”

She shrugged. “When I went to college?”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s only been one semester.”

She laughed and then rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

It was a while before he actually got a chance to talk to Carlos. Or even think about the whole thing very much. Because suddenly it was Christmas, which for some reason, lasted basically all week. In addition to his normal chores, he had to help clean the house in preparation and cook food. He had to clean his bedroom (and maybe hide a few things) because it was being used as a guest bedroom, and he was being moved into his brother’s room for the week. He did manage to call Carlos on Christmas, but the reception was spotty, and they got interrupted by some of Seb’s cousins, so the conversation didn’t last long.

Everywhere he turned, there were people. And as much as he loved his family, they could be a lot to handle. But it was also a good distraction from his thoughts. Unfortunately, that meant the only time he was alone with his thoughts was at night, which meant he didn’t get a ton of sleep that week.

He loved Christmas, but he was relieved when it was over. And then Ashlyn announced that her and EJ’s parents were going to be out of town on New Year’s Eve, so she was throwing another party. It took two days to convince his parents to let him go and to convince Annie to do his chores the next morning, so he could stay the night. He eventually managed to get her with “Do you really want me driving twenty miles on an icy dirt road at one in the morning on New Year’s Eve?” and the classic puppy dog eyes that worked every time. She had just sighed and told him that he owed her one, which really didn’t mean much because at this point they both owed each other so much that it probably cancelled out.

So now, here he was, four hours before the new decade, parked in front of Carlos’s house, almost as excited and nervous as he’d been on opening night. He took a deep breath before hopping out of his pickup and walking up to the front door. He knocked, and barely a second later, it opened, and there was Carlos’s mom.

“Hi, Seb.” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“Hi, Mrs. Rodriguez.”

She opened the door wider. “Carlos is in his room getting ready. You know how he is,” she said with an affectionate smile. She moved to the side to let him by, so he could go find Carlos. “Keep the door open,” she shouted after him.

Seb chuckled as he heard Carlos whine, “Mom!”

He walked into the room, and Carlos turned toward him with a smile on his face and his arms outstretched. “How do I look?”

Seb smiled at him as he took a step closer. “Beautiful as always.” He gave Carlos a kiss. “You ready to go?”

Carlos looked around the room. “I think so.” He pointed at his bed. “Can you grab my bag for me?”

“Sure.” Seb picked up Carlos’s backpack, and saw  _ High School Musical: The Choosical _ underneath it. “Ah, so another choosical redoosical then?”

Carlos laughed as he put on his coat. “Yeah, you don’t think everyone’s tired of it yet, do you?”

“What? Of course not. It’s like the best game ever. Plus, it’s tradition now. We play it at every cast party.”

Carlos smiled. “Good. Because I may have written some new questions.” He picked up the game, and the two of them started walking out of the room, Seb turning off the light and closing the door as they left. “After you guys made me finally watch the sequels all the way through, I decided to add some questions based on them. Although, it was like two in the morning, and I might have gotten a bit… salty when I was writing questions based on the third movie ”

Carlos’s mom held the front door open for them, and they said goodbye to her as they left. “Bye kids! Have fun! Be safe!” She called after them as they walked toward Seb’s truck.

“Bye Mom!”

“Bye Mrs. Rodriguez!” Seb turned back to Carlos to continue their conversation. “What do you mean you got salty?”

Carlos shrugged. “Honestly, I barely remember writing half of them, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Seb just smiled and shook his head. Then, he opened the passenger door for Carlos. “Such a gentleman,” Carlos joked as he got in. Seb zoned out for a second, that weird feeling he’d felt before when he called himself his mom’s “son” returning. He must have been making a weird face, because Carlos asked him, “You ok?”

“Huh?” Seb shook himself out of it and looked at Carlos, to see that he looked concerned. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He closed the door and walked around to the other side, throwing Carlos’s bag in the backseat with his own before getting into the driver’s seat.

Carlos was still looking at him. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

Seb nodded and smiled. “Yeah, of course.” Carlos clearly didn’t believe him, but dropped it as Seb put his seatbelt on and started driving. “So, are you excited for the party?”

“Yeah, I feel like I haven’t seen any of our friends in forever.”

“At least you live in town. You and Ashlyn and Gina hung out like two days ago. I’ve literally only left the ranch twice all break, and you know how intense my family is.”

“Yeah, how was Christmas with them?”

“Well, first of all, it lasted pretty much all week for some reason? And my grandma kept calling me Sebastian, which is both annoying because I don’t really like being called my full name, and confusing because it’s also my dad’s name, and we could never figure out which one of us she was talking to.” Carlos laughed. Seb shook his head. “Honestly, TJ’s lucky she doesn’t know his full name because I’m pretty sure if she ever called him by it, he would not be afraid to fight an old lady. And she’d win.”

Carlos laughed again, “Wait, she doesn’t know her own grandson’s name?”

Seb shook his head. “He’s not her grandson. Other side of the family. And only like 6 people actually know what TJ stands for.”

“Oh. That’s weird. Do you know?”

“I know what the ‘T’ stands for. And only because Amber told me once on accident. I actually thought for a second that TJ was gonna kill her for that.”

“Seriously? How old were you guys?”

“I think I was about six? So he would’ve been about five.”

“Damn. So I guess there’s no chance you’ll ever tell me what it is.”

Seb laughed. “Never. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

He noticed Carlos give him a look, like he wasn’t sure if Seb was joking or not.

Seb pulled over in front of Ashlyn’s house and parked. Before he got out of the pickup, Carlos pulled him into a kiss. “I love you.”

Seb smiled. “I love you, too.”

Carlos leaned back to unbuckle his seatbelt and open the door. “You’re family’s wack though.”

Seb laughed as he opened his own door. “I know.” He grabbed both of their bags out of the backseat before going around to the other side to walk with Carlos into the house.

“Ok, as you all know, in the event of a tie, we go into a lightning round of  _ Getcha Head in the Frame Trivia Questions _ !” Everyone looked at Carlos excitedly as he picked up the top card. He laughed to himself and hung his head slightly as he read it.

“What’s happening?” Big Red asked.

Carlos shook his head. “Nothing. I was just really tired when I wrote this question.”

“Ah, so this one’s about the third movie, then,” Seb guessed.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” EJ said. “Seb gets to know about the questions ahead of time just because you’re dating?”

Seb put his hands up. “I swear that’s all I know.”

“Can I read the question?” Carlos asked. EJ nodded and gestured for him to continue. Carlos looked around at the whole group. “In  _ High School Musical 3: Senior Year _ ,” EJ scoffed, “who was Ryan’s date to the prom?”

“Kelsi!” Gina answered.

Carlos nodded and pointed to her. “Yes! And who should have been his date?”

“Chad!” Seb, Ashlyn, and Big Red all shouted together, causing everyone to burst out laughing.

Rico looked at EJ and said, “I’m not going to prom with you,” which made everyone laugh harder.

Once they calmed down, Seb looked at Carlos. “So that’s what you meant when you said you were salty when you wrote those questions?”

Carlos just shrugged, but EJ pointed at Seb and made an ‘I told you so face.’ Carlos just waved his his hand to shut him up. “Both teams can have a point for that one.” He looked at the next card. “Next question: who actually sang Troy’s songs in the first  _ High School Musical _ movie?”

A couple of them looked a bit confused. “Drew Seeley!” EJ answered.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. “You didn’t cheat this time, did you?” Ashlyn asked EJ.

He put his hands up. “No, I swear I didn’t!” He pointed at his phone, which had been sitting on the table the whole time. “I do know some things, you know.”

Ashlyn put up her own hands in surrender. “Ok. Sorry.”

“Ok, point to the Wildcats! Next question: what Disney star had a cameo at the end of  _ High School Musical 2 _ ?”

“Miley Cyrus!” Nini answered.

Carlos pointed to her. “Correct. Point to the West High Knights! Ok, final question, to break the tie: what is the name of Sharpay’s dog?”

“Boi!” Seb shouted.

Carlos pointed at him. “Yes. And what is the name of the actor who plays Boi?”

“Actor? It’s a dog?” EJ interrupted. Carlos just ignored him, not moving his eyes away from Seb.

“Manly Ortega,” Seb answered simply, like it was obvious. (Ok, maybe he’d gone down a small Wikipedia rabbit hole in preparation for his role last semester.)

Carlos pulled out a champagne popper. “And the West High Knights win!” He popped it, and confetti went everywhere.

Seb smiled as his team congratulated him, and several of them asked him how he knew that. They all practically fell on top of him in a huge group hug. “You’re the man, Seb!” Kaden said, patting him on the shoulder. Seb felt himself wince and hoped nobody noticed. He was pretty sure Carlos did. Seb eventually managed to excuse himself to the kitchen to get a drink, and he wasn’t totally surprised when Carlos followed him.

Carlos hopped up on the counter in front of him. “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you keep saying that.” Carlos looked so sad.

Seb looked down. “I’m sorry.”

Carlos reached out and took both of Seb’s hands in his own. “Seb, you didn’t do anything wrong. At least, I don’t think you did. I just want you to talk to me when you’re upset. That’s kind of how this works. You’re my boyfriend.” Seb tried to stop himself from cringing at that word, but from the way Carlos dropped his hands, he must not have been successful. He didn’t know why this stuff was bothering him so much more today than it usually did, but it was pretty inconvenient for him. He slowly looked up and immediately wished he hadn’t when he saw the look on Carlos’s face. “Unless… you don’t want to be my boyfriend anymore?”

Seb’s eyes went wide. “No, of course not. I love you, Carlos.” He took Carlos’s hands back in his. “I love dating you.”

Carlos looked only slightly relieved, like he was still holding his breath, waiting for whatever Seb was going to say next. “But?”

“But I just don’t really love the word  _ boy _ friend…”

Now, Carlos mostly just looked confused. “Why not?”

Seb took a deep breath. “I think, no I’m like 99% sure, that I’m nonbinary? Or like somewhere under that umbrella I guess? I don’t know, it’s kind of confusing and complicated-”

“Oh.” Carlos nodded. “Ok.”

Seb was about to keep talking, but he stopped when he realized that Carlos was smiling softly at him. “Ok?”

Carlos shrugged. “Yeah. Sorry, did you want me to have a bigger reaction? I could get Gina to make a gender reveal cake maybe? Though I’m not sure what color it would be…”

Seb couldn’t help but laugh. He felt like a big weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. He felt like he was about to cry as he shook his head, still laughing slighting. “No, that’s ok. I just. You still want to date me?”

Carlos gave him a very confused look. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, you know, you like guys. And I’m… not a guy.”

Carlos shook his head and squeezed Seb’s hands. “Seb, I like _you_. And if you don’t want me to call you my boyfriend, that’s fine. We’ll find a different word. As long as you still want to call _me_ _your_ boyfriend.”

Seb smiled and leaned up on his tip toes to give Carlos a hug. “Of course I still want that.” He pulled back just enough to lean forward again and kiss him.

They heard someone clear their throat behind them, and Seb stepped back and turned to see who it was. “Hi, Gina.” Seb gave her an awkward wave, knowing he was probably blushing.

She just smirked. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said, not looking sorry at all. “I just came to get a Root Beer.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a pop. Just before she left, she said, “Oh, by the way, Ashlyn and Big Red are setting up karaoke, you know, cause of the whole New Years Eve/ _ High School Musical _ thing, so if you feel like rejoining us anytime soon, I’m pretty sure I heard Kourtney say she would kill to hear you sing  _ Fabulous _ .” She nodded. “Ok, bye.” She turned and left.

Seb turned to see that Carlos was smiling at him. He gestured toward the doorway Gina had just left through “Well, you heard her. Kourtney would  _ kill _ to hear you sing  _ Fabulous _ . And, frankly, so would I.”

Seb tilted his head to the side. “I think she was talking to both of us.”

Carlos shook his head and hopped off the counter. He put his hand on Seb’s chest. “Honey, I would love to sing a duet with you, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to play your brother.” Seb chuckled, already thinking about whether or not he could drag Rico onstage with him to be Ryan again, as Carlos walked around him to grab two pops out of the fridge.

Just before they left the kitchen, Seb pulled Carlos into another quick kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Carlos handed Seb one of the pops, so he could take his other hand in his own before they walked into the living room to rejoin the party.


End file.
